


wish i'd never grown up

by happynotdignified



Series: harry potter books - other povs [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Canon Compliant, F/M, Fleur Delacour and Bill Weasley's Wedding, Gabrielle POV, Gen, Ginny looks after Gabrielle, Minor Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Minor Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, One Shot, POV Third Person, and she just wants to fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:47:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26936881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happynotdignified/pseuds/happynotdignified
Summary: “Poor Fleur, ‘er dream wedding ‘as been ruined,” Gabrielle sighed.Ginny looked at her in obvious disbelief, “is that all you can think about?”“What do you expect me to theenk of?”Ginny glanced towards the door then back at Gabrielle, “do you know what Death Eaters are?”“Fleur ‘as told me,” Gabrielle replied smugly, even though she was young, she was not stupid!“I doubt she told you all of it,” Ginny replied looking in pain. “I probably shouldn’t tell you if your parents haven’t but we are all in danger and you deserve to know why."--x--Or// The Ministry has Fallen and the Death Eaters have come but Gabrielle was not prepared for trauma that Fleur's wedding would turn into.
Relationships: Fleur Delacour/Bill Weasley
Series: harry potter books - other povs [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1965634
Kudos: 11





	wish i'd never grown up

**Author's Note:**

> Gabrielle's POV of the wedding in Deathly Hallows. I hope I haven't made her seem shallow - she is eleven and up until this point has probably had a pretty sheltered life in my opinion. Ginny isn't being as harsh as Gabrielle thinks - as a reader I'm sure you can gather why.

**Wish I'd Never Grown Up**

Gabrielle picked up a glass of something called Butterbeer; she wasn’t familiar with it but assumed it must be nice if Fleur allowed it at the wedding. Taking a sip, she realised it was in fact delicious.

“Excuse me,” said a male voice behind her. She turned to see one of Bill’s brothers – Ronald she thought.

“Oh, I am sorry,” she said in a thick French accent letting him near the Butterbeer. He smiled at her and poured two glasses of the delicious, yellow drink.

“It’s not as good as Firewhiskey, pity Hermione didn’t want that,” he said to her.

“What eez Firewhiskey?” Gabrielle frowned.

Ron smirked, “Better not let you try it, you’re a bit young.”

Gabrielle huffed indignantly and was about to make a snappy retort when something large and silver came through the canopy of the marquee and landed on the dance floor.

“What was zat?” she asked in amazement, “Fleur did not mention any more entertainment!”

Ron didn’t answer, his eyes going wide in a horrified manner which made Gabrielle rethink her excitement. She turned to see people on the dance floor freeze but couldn’t see what the silver thing was. However, no one, including her could miss the loud, deep, slow voice which spoke over everyone.

_"The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."_

Gabrielle tried to process these words; her English still needed improvement. The Ministry has fallen she assumed meant something had happened at the Ministry of Magic. Fallen? It can’t have been anything good. She had no idea who this Scrimgeour was. And who were _they_ and why were they coming to Fleur’s wedding?

Then someone screamed.

“Hermione,” Ron called. Gabrielle turned to see him as white as a sheet and holding his wand in a clenched fist.

Guests started panicking and Gabrielle heard the familiar sound of Apparation. Ron turned to look at her with a look that told her it pained him to still be standing still.

“Do you have a wand?”

“Not yet,” she replied, she wasn’t staring Beauxbatons till September.

“Then hide somewhere,” Ron said sharply before disappearing into the crowd, Butterbeer forgotten.

Gabrielle stared after him. _Hide somewhere_! Where? And why?

The answer came to her as dark, cloaked and masked figures started appearing amongst the crowd. Gabrielle’s blood ran cold as Fleur’s voice said in her head _Death Eaters_.

But she didn’t hide as Ron advised her and she didn’t run. She was frozen in terror, she was eleven years old; what could she do? There were considerably less guests now but many of the remaining ones had wands out or where searching for someone.

Then Bill was there, pale and clutching Fleur’s hand, they both had wands drawn.

“Gabrielle, _merci_!” Fleur cried in a mixture of relief and fear, gathering her up in her arms.

“Fleur, take her inside, it’ll be safe,” Bill said sharply.

“Non! I will stay with you, Bill,” Fleur replied firmly but sent a panicked look at her sister. “And will eet even be safe?”

Bill looked anguished, then caught the arm of his sister as she darted past, “Ginny, take Gabrielle inside. Please, just get to safety.”

Ginny looked from Bill and Fleur’s scared and pleading faces, then to Gabrielle and then frantically scanned the dance floor.

“Harry?” she asked. Gabrielle wondered had Ginny gone mad – Harry Potter was not here. She had been disappointed to hear this as she knew he was friends with Bill’s family.

“I saw them leave,” Bill assured her, his tone softer. “Please Ginny, get inside.”

She nodded and grabbed Gabrielle’s arm, “Come on.”

“I can walk,” Gabrielle struggled out of Ginny’s grip.

“Then walk faster,” Ginny snapped.

Gabrielle looked at her; her hair had fallen out of the tidy bun it had been in earlier, she had her wand out – though Gabrielle didn’t think she was of age – and she looked as if it was killing her not to stay outside and fight whoever these Death Eaters were.

“Why do you want to fight?” she asked, voicing her thoughts. “If Bill says eet ees dangerous, we need to hide.”

Ginny didn’t answer, merely looking irritated. Gabrielle wasn’t surprised; from the moment she’d set foot in the Burrow’s garden, Ginny had rubbed her up the wrong way. They crossed the last stretch of grass to the back door. Gabrielle cast a forlorn look back at the destruction and cast a glance around to see Fleur casting spells, back to back with Bill. Further down the garden she could see Mama and Papa doing the same.

“Quickly,” said Ginny, holding the door open. Once inside, Gabrielle sat down on one of the squishy armchairs and watched Ginny pace back and forth. Every so often Ginny glanced at the strange cloak which had all the Weasleys’ faces on it. All the hands where currently pointing to mortal peril except for the one they called Percy.

“Poor Fleur, ‘er dream wedding ‘as been ruined,” Gabrielle sighed.

Ginny scowled at her in obvious disbelief, “is that all you can think about?”

“What do you expect me to theenk of?”

Ginny looked towards the door then back at Gabrielle, “do you know what the Death Eaters are?”

“Fleur ‘as told me,” Gabrielle replied smugly, even though she was young, she was not stupid!

“I doubt she told you all of it,” Ginny replied looking in pain. “I probably shouldn’t tell you if your parents haven’t but we are all in danger and you deserve to know why. I assume you know they are Voldemort’s followers?”

“Of course!”

“Well, on his order, these Death Eaters won’t hesitate to _kill_ anyone who tries to defend him.”

“Kill? And who ees him?” Gabrielle asked, frowning.

“Harry,” Ginny replied almost inaudibly, sinking into a chair, head in her hands with her wand sending out precarious sparks.

Gabrielle giggled, “but ’Arry eez too brave to get caught by zem.”

Ginny sent another one of her disbelieving scowls, “you don’t get it do you? That’s my family out there! And your family! And those Death Eaters will _torture_ them.”

Gabrielle shivered involuntarily.

“Look, sorry,” Ginny sighed, looking slightly guilty – Gabrielle was pleased to note this, “of course you don’t get it. I wouldn’t have when I was your age. I just wish I was out there.”

“Why?” Gabrielle asked, genuinely not understanding why Ginny was so eager to get caught up in a battle.

“To protect my family, to fight, to show Voldemort that we won’t go down without a fight,” Ginny replied.

Gabrielle went silent. They both sat there for what seemed like an eternity until a scream pierced the silence. In seconds they were both at the window.

Gabrielle’s eyes widened in horror as she saw the scream had escaped from Madam Weasley who was watching in vain as Monsieur Weasley withered in pain on the ground.

“What are zey doing?”

Ginny didn’t answer, Gabrielle saw her shaking in anger and heading towards the door.

“Bill told us to stay in ‘ere,” Gabrielle grabbed her wrist, suddenly a lot more terrified as the image of Bill’s father replayed in her mind. “Don’t leave me!”

“That is my dad who they are torturing,” Ginny said in an icy voice. “Don’t tell me to stay here!”

“You’d be best staying in here, missy,” said a cruel voice. Turning, Gabrielle’s blood ran cold. Three masked men stood in the doorway with Bill’s brother, Charlie.

“Leave her alone,” snapped Charlie.

“Oh, we will,” one of them said with a sinister tone, “unless she’s got anything to hide.”

“I agreed that you could search the house, not threaten my sister,” Charlie all but growled.

The three men laughed and began searching the living room, not caring about putting things back the way they found them. Charlie sat down beside Ginny and Gabrielle also took a seat.

“Who’s still here?” whispered Ginny, voice shaking.

“Fleur’s parents, Remus, Tonks, Hagrid and there’s another nine or so of them outside – I think some of them are Ministry officials though,” Charlie replied grimly. “They tortured Dad and Remus. Fred and George need to be careful – they’re trying to lighten the mood, but the Death Eaters don’t appreciate it. Don’t know who could be next.”

Gabrielle’s mouth went dry at the thought of her parents or Fleur being put under the _Crucio_ curse used on Monsieur Weasley.

“Are they interrogating them?” Ginny asked in a whisper.

Charlie nodded, raising his voice so the masked men could hear clearly, “They want to know if we’ve seen Harry Potter – fancy that – you were telling me just the other day that you haven’t seen or heard from him since you left Hogwarts for the summer.”

“Yeah, hasn’t replied to Ron’s letters either,” Ginny responded. Gabrielle noted that her voice shook as she spoke and did not blame her – these men were scary. “Seems to have cut and run, Ron wasn’t chuffed.”

One of the men narrowed his eyes suspiciously, “We know Potter is friends with your brother, Weasley, don’t lie to us.”

“Where is your brother anyway?” asked another man sharply.

“He’s ill, in bed with Spattergroit,” Charlie said in a hard voice.

“We’ll see.”

Gabrielle shivered wishing more than ever that she was at home in France in her beachside house, instead of miserable England, in a house being searched by people – who according to Ginny – wouldn’t hesitate to kill her or her family.

“And what about these two?” a man asked.

Charlie answered, “my sister and sister-in-law are underage, I see no reason to interrogate them.”

“We’ll be the judge of that,” the man grunted.

Charlie glared defensively, "does Voldemort now support torturing underage, pureblood witches then?"

" _Crucio!"_

Charlie fell like a log to the floor, writhing and twitching. Gabrielle started in complete horror and terror, unable to comprehend the noises of pain he was making. 

"STOP!" Ginny cried, leaping up from her seat and pointing her own wand at the masked man's face. "I swear to Merlin, I will hex you."

Charlie went immediately still, breathing heavily. The man advanced on Ginny who kept her wand held defiantly in front of her; Gabrielle was sobbing loudly but could note that Ginny was being braver than she could ever imagine.

" _Expelliarmus!"_ muttered one of the other men, sounding almost bored as he caught her wand. "Sit down you stupid girl before you do anything you regret even more."

Ginny automatically reached for Charlie but was pushed onto the sofa beside Gabrielle who instinctively moved closer to the ally she had in the room.

The first man put a wand to Charlie's throat, "treat the Dark Lord's name with such disrespect again and you'll find yourself with one less sister, underage or not."

"Get up blood traitor," the third man snarled, "show us the upstairs." 

Charlie sent a pleading look over to the girls and Ginny sent a small nod back to him. He sighed and gingerly pulled himself off the floor; Gabrielle noticed the wincing.

After searching the bottom floor of the house, Charlie led the men upstairs. Ginny went into the kitchen after a moment and returned with a steaming mug which she gave to Gabrielle.

“Why are you giving me zis?” Gabrielle frowned through tears.

“You’re shaking,” was all Ginny said in reply before kicking off her heels and curling up in her armchair facing the window. Gabrielle drank her hot chocolate watching Ginny who flinched every time a scream pierced the night and kept glancing at the weird clock again and again. Gabrielle examined it and noticed there was a point that ominously said ‘Dead’. With a shudder, she realised Ginny must be glad they all were still on ‘Mortal Peril’.

Eventually Charlie came back downstairs and the men led him outside again. The screaming was over it seemed but a ominous silence seemed to come from the garden now. After what seemed like an age, Fleur and the twins came inside. Both twins were covered in bruises and their clothes were muddy but Gabrielle only had eyes for her sister as the twins moved across to Ginny and wrapped her in a tight hug.

 _"Ils sont partis,_ " she managed. Gabrielle stared at her in shock. Her sister's hair was a mess, there was a graze along her forearm, her dress had rips and a large red stain at the train.

" _Est-ce du sang?_ " Gabrielle cried, feeling horrified at the thought of her sister having lost so much blood.

"Oui," Fleur nodded sadly, "Monsieur Lupin's."

Ginny gasped, clearly having followed enough of the conversation.

"Remus is fine," Fred assured them, "Tonks had emergency healing supplies in her bag - probably due to the Full Moon being close."

Gabrielle could not think how that was relevant but was glad it was not Fleur's blood (not that she did not feel bad for Remus). 

"Why don't we go to bed now," Ginny spoke up, looking at Gabrielle. "We can ask questions in the morning."

Gabrielle watched the twins send her identical incredulous looks and Ginny respond with a pointed look at Gabrielle herself.

"Oh thank you Geenny!" Fleur said in relief, "Gabrielle and you both looked exhausted and eet eez probably for the best not to see everyone in the state they are in at ze moment."

"It's fine, Fleur," replied Ginny - Gabrielle noted she did not sound as exasperated as she normally did when speaking to Fleur. "I'll look after Gabrielle, you take care of Bill."

Ginny led Gabrielle upstairs and they both got changed into their pyjamas, hanging their identical gold dresses back up. Gabrielle stared at them for a moment, remembering the very same dresses causing her such excitement that morning. Now all she felt was horror.

Eventually, she fell asleep, her dreams haunted with masked men, Fleur in a blood stained wedding dress screaming for her to run, her parents’ tortured screams and talking silvery animals. And finally, she dreamed of her home in France where she had never been this afraid.


End file.
